---
title: They have no word by which to signify the whole race, but each tribe… — Kaffir folk-lore · tree and pragmatics
description: They have no word by which to signify the whole race, but each tribe has its own title, which is usually the name of its first great chief, with the plural prefix Ama or Aba. Who acts: stories, word, tribe, own title. A sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Rega
---

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# Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They have no word by which to signify the whole race, but each tribe has its own title, which is usually the name of its first great chief, with the plural prefix Ama or Aba.

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**Who acts:** stories, word, tribe, own title · **What happens:** have, signify, be, title · **To what, where:** word, whole race, own title, name

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This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (stories, word, tribe, own title), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg71335:2:5
# text = They have no word by which to signify the whole race, but each tribe has its own title, which is usually the name of its first great chief, with the plural prefix Ama or Aba.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	signify	signify	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl:relcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	race	race	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	det	_	_
15	tribe	tribe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
17	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
18	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	title	title	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
22	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
23	usually	usually	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
27	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
28	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	30	amod	_	_
29	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	with	with	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	plural	plural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	prefix	prefix	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	_
36	Ama	Ama	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	appos	_	_
37	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	Aba	Aba	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | stories *= story* | no word |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Patient |
| 2 | **signify** | to-infinitive | no word | the whole race |  |  |  |  | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot race=Theme |
| 3 | **have** | present | each tribe | word's own title and the name and the plural prefix |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent title=Patient |
| 4 | **is a** | present | word's own title and the name and the plural prefix | the name |  |  |  | of word's first great chief; usually *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **title** |  | word |  |  |  |  |  | nom title «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Project Gutenberg book 71335 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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